Mega Drive Mini 2 Release Noriyuki Iwadare and Toshiyuki Kubooka Lunar: Eternal Blue Interview Translation, Plus: Kei Shigema Talks about Lunar 0

NORIYUKI IWADARE, SOUND DIRECTOR FOR MEGA DRIVE MINI 2 TITLE LUNAR: ETERNAL BLUE, TALKS ABOUT CREATING THE SOUNDTRACK FOR AN RPG MASTERPIECE

The announcement that both installments of Lunar, the flagship RPG series for the Mega-CD, would be included on the Mega Drive Mini 2—slated for release on October 27—has caused a sensation.

This feature from Beep21 features Lunar series mainstays—script writer Kei Shigema; character designer Toshiyuki Kubooka; and Noriyuki Iwadare on music—as each looks back on the untold stories from the production of these Mega-CD titles.

Here, Mr. Iwadare, sound manager, regales us with tales from the development of Eternal Blue, created as the sequel to Lunar.

Finally released after 2-1/2 years of development, how was the Mega CD's final RPG masterpiece created?

Mr. Iwadare tells the story from his perspective. Have a look.

THE SEQUEL STARTED IN OCTOBER 1992

When production on Lunar: The Silver Star wrapped up, the fact of the matter was: there was plenty that had been done well, but there was plenty of room for improvement.

Afterward, you know, I had a bit of a crisis about my own future: like, what should I do; should I continue making music or not? I fumbled about for an answer. Of course, I decided to carry on, and so, with Isao Mizoguchi (Don McCow), I founded Two Five, and as the company's first masterpiece (and the Mega-CD's last? I've heard it called that (laughs)), we approached Lunar: Eternal Blue (hereafter Lunar 2) with enthusiasm and determination that exceeded that of the original project.

Looking at records, it seems that production on Lunar 2 began in October 1992. In 1992, I was wrapping up Rise of the Dragon and SimEarth for the Mega-CD and Maten no Soumetsu and Kishi Densetsu etc. for the Mega Drive (I was accumulating experience). I therefore was able to devote my full attention to the project.

The staff for Lunar 2 was pretty much the same as for the first game. Even more of Toshiyuki Kubooka's charming characters appeared than in its predecessor, and there were so many splendid cutscenes—even at the storyboard stage, they were already so deeply moving!

Kei Shigema's script had so much worthwhile stuff in it, and the groundwork for the "a boy tries to save the girl he loves and winds up saving the world in the process" story progression was laid so well—it's so fun! This is the way! This—this is the great masterpiece! (Though there are of course tropes.)

100 TRACKS OF ORCHESTRAL SOUND! GAME ARTS DEVELOPS ITS OWN SOUND DRIVER

Now, as I was considering how to approach the sound, Mr. Shigema said: "Let's do mainly orchestral sound." And so, I was able to plan a thoroughly-integrated, orchestral soundtrack with, of course, a variety of elements—I think I created maybe about 100 tracks?

To play the music, Mr. Ari Kamijo at Game Arts (Co., Ltd.) created a streaming driver just for this game. The sound was monaural, but the driver allowed tracks of over 4 minutes in length to be recorded. I didn't have to worry about recording time! I was ecstatic!

You know, though, when I made a joke about "Ahhh, but it's mono?", Mr. Kamijo also made it possible for me to play pseudo-stereo effects! I thought, that's just as good! It really got me pumped.

ETERNAL BLUE'S OPENING THEME: COMPOSED AT A HOT SPRING RETREAT

One thing I can't forget to mention in talking about Lunar 2 is the company retreat at Shiriyaki Onsen in Gunma Prefecture. We all traveled in our own cars, and it was farther into the mountains than I thought. I finally arrived at Shiriyaki Onsen, and I headed for the room where we were all gathering. I thought there'd be a big uproar, everyone exchanging spirited opinions, butting heads, right?...but there they were, playing mah jongg. What did I expect? Game Arts did create that Gambler Egomaniacs title (Gyuwanburaa Jikochuushinha), after all (laughs). They really will play it anywhere. According to a rumor I heard, even when they went to the ocean for a swim, they were playing mah jongg on the beach! Of course. Well, I'm sure that before that, it was a very productive meeting.

When night came, we decided to head for the hot spring. This particular hot spring was very unusual in that it sprang from the middle of a river; unfortunately, it had rained the day before, so we couldn't go in the river (because of the rising water). That meant that we had to wait for our turn to go in the rotenburo on the riverbank. While I was waiting, I was looking up at the moon, peeking from in between the trees...and I heard this flute melody pop into my head...and that was how I came up with the opening theme for Lunar 2!!! It was a divine revelation! I forgot all about going in the hot spring; I had to get this melody down on paper, on sheet music, to write down that melody and the other sounds I had heard in my head. That was when I knew: this project is going to turn out great.

THE UNDENIABLY DRAGGED-OUT DEVELOPMENT PERIOD AND THE PRELUDE DRAMA CD RUSH JOB

However: development kind of stalled. From about 1993 onward, I did a huge number of jobs concurrent with Lunar 2: A/X-101 (1994) and Wing Commander (1994) for the Mega-CD; Ranger X (1993) for the Mega Drive; Virtual Cameraman (1993) and Rocket Coaster (1993) for the Mega LD (did you know about this system? It used laserdiscs!); the overseas release of Alien vs. Predator (1994); Graduation (1992) and Tanjou: Debut (1993) for the PC Engine—and on and on. I was so busy! Maybe too busy; during the recording of Tanjou: Debut (to digress a little here), I was kind of half-conscious, in a daze, I guess, and it didn't come out sounding really like I imagined—I really ended up taking a long time. I'm usually a decisive person, but that was the only period where I wasn't really clear on what I was doing, and I ended up causing a lot of inconvenience for those involved. Overscheduling really is not a good thing. I'm truly, horribly sorry.

Come 1994, Lunar 2 was still in production. At the time, game production never really stuck to deadlines, and production periods would just drag on and on—because we wanted to create a satisfactory product. Lunar 2 likewise went on for too long...given the stagnation, there wasn't enough promotional material at all (for articles), and players were getting tired of waiting. That's why we decided to rush out the Prelude drama + music CD.

I already had an idea for the theme, so I created a theme track almost seven minutes in length, as well as a track for the goddess Althena, but at the time, I still hadn't seen the end of the game! It really was a prelude. Of course, when I composed these tracks (which took place in between recording other CDs...), we were doing dubbing with the voice actors, and all the other staff members besides me were gathered together. I remember thinking: "ahh...I wish I could be there, too."

But! I heard afterward that Mr. Kubooka listened to the compositions I created then over and over, and that they expanded the idea he had of the game in his mind (particularly of the anime cutscenes). I was just so happy for that.

MY SOUND CREATION ENVIRONMENT AT THE TIME

Let me think back on the environment I used to create the sound at the time, because I think a lot of people might have an interest in that.

I still had my PC-98 and Recomposer (sequencer), and I introduced an E-mu Proteus/2 XR—it was tailored for orchestral sound. Its double reeds were so good—the oboes and bassoons!

So I produced a lot of melodies with single oboes, single bassoons, or oboes and flutes with octave layering. Octave unisons with oboes and flutes were a crutch for me with Lunar 2... The layering is so effective and makes such an impact; it just makes me think of Lunar 2 whenever I hear it.

For strings, I used the Proteus/2 with a Roland synthesizer (U-220). The sound of the solo viola was so good. The solo in the track for the martial-arts tournament uses it.

Ahh, that reminds me: I also used the Proteus/3 World (for ethnic instruments) and the Procussion (as a drums and percussion sound source)! Afterward, I also bought more samplers like the e-64 and e-6400 and used them for Grandia. I was a complete E-mu partisan (laughs). I really like E-mu's sample library; I use it even now, on current jobs. The sound is so convincing. I also used a Roland JD-990 (primarily for synth brass and synth pads), a Korg M3R (mainly for sparkly-sounding synth etc.), and an Alesis D4 (a drum sound source), among others.

I have another good story for you. During production, Mr. Shigema really said: "Mr. Iwadare, let's record this with an orchestra. If I put up a million yen, Mr. Kubooka puts up a million, and you put up a million, we could do it, right?" He was serious! At the time, I laughed and dodged the question, but I couldn't have done it at the time. I was lacking in numerous departments—skill, experience, budget, guts... But it made me so happy, and I was so grateful, from the bottom of my heart. Thank you so much. I hope that wish can come true next time.

IT ALL ENDED OCTOBER 1994

Anyhow: in round figures, I made a whopping 60 BGM tracks, 30 music tracks for anime cutscenes, and 10 tracks for internal sound sources, for a grand total of 100 tracks. Recording for the ending and promotional vocals all wrapped up in October 1994 (with the final bit being Lemina-sama's singing for the omake CD). The game was going to retail on December 22 the same year, so it was an unbelievable schedule, to have the game go to market so quickly after finishing the masters...it was kind of scary!

But the game arrived at retail just fine, thank goodness. I actually recorded all the movie cutscenes to video while playing the game! I loved it that much. It's a game I'm really attached to.

I cried, you know, at the final ending. I know what would happen, but the timing of the music was just exquisite.

After that, the game also got a release overseas and became a work that continues to be beloved to this day all over the world—that makes me really happy.

In 2013, I went to San Francisco for an appearance at Japan Expo USA, and there was a schoolteacher who said they'd played Lunar as a child and had brought their students to our concert. That made me so happy! I don't know what the students thought, but if they felt something, if they played the game—that would warm my heart.

It's a very good game—one that could be called my starting point. I'd love to share my love for it with you through the Mega Drive Mini 2.

CHARACTER DESIGNER TOSHIYUKI KUBOOKA TALKS WITH BEEP21 ABOUT THE UNTOLD STORIES OF MAKING THE CHARACTERS OF LUNAR: ETERNAL BLUE

Here, character designer Toshiyuki Kubooka looks back on the stories surrounding the decision to make Eternal Blue, the sequel to Lunar, and other tales.

THE START OF PLANNING THE SEQUEL

—Once the previous game, Lunar: The Silver Star, was finished, how did the decision to make the sequel, Eternal Blue, come about? Did development just start right away, directly continuing from the previous game? Or was there a bit of a break?

Kubooka: I have absolutely no memory of that period, but I do recall attending something like a review meeting at Game Arts after 1 (Lunar: The Silver Star) was released.
However, as for whether or not talk of a sequel came up there... At the review session, I think someone said something like "you took the trouble of setting the game on the moon; it would've been nice if there were more of a unique culture or something." I feel, like, compared to anime, the amount of planning and preparation that goes into the world and setting is a bit too slight, I guess. (I'm ignoring, of course, that these are my own characters.)

Judging from the release year, it looks like it was the same year that Yamato 2520 (November 1994) came out, so I probably did it right after the Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still OVA (1992-1998) came out.
By the way, Mahiro Maeda, the genius asked to do the design of the Four Dragons etc. on Lunar, supervised the Yamato 2520 production; it was created primarily by early Gonzo staff. Gonzo was greatly involved with work on Lunar, including the remakes, so the series is deeply entwined with Yamato 2520.

—I believe that when you started work on Eternal Blue, reviews and reactions on 1 were already out; do you have any memory of them from that time?

Kubooka: My impression, at least, was that the reception of 1 revolved overwhelmingly around the script! That, and then, like, the giant map, and the battles, I suppose.

I loved how huge that map was, too, so it was kind of unfortunate that it was scaled down in Eternal Blue. Scale was rapidly becoming symbolic, apparently, with scale in towns and on the overworld not matching each other. Well, I guess there were many reasons, but still.

I don't remember the reactions to the anime cutscenes or characters at all. I wonder if there even were any...

IT WAS LIKE: IF THE PREVIOUS GAME WERE A TV ANIME, THIS ONE WAS THE THEATRICAL RELEASE

—Looking at the Lunar I & II artbook, Eternal Blue had an overwhelming number of planning documents. How did you go about creating the game's look and setting?

Kubooka: The scale of this story (Eternal Blue) was so huge; we approached it as if, if the previous game were the TV anime, this was an anime for theatrical release.
I was involved with the remake (on the Sega Saturn) as well, but for me, the best is undeniably the Mega-CD Eternal Blue—there's no comparison.

At the time, I had begun my shift toward direction, but I didn't have any prior experience with a work this massive. I got the chance to be involved with everything from the script reads to scoring the anime cutscenes—creating the idea of what music tracks should be used with which scenes—and it was a truly invaluable experience (though I ended up trashing a Hi8 I'd just bought in the process). I put my head in the project and wracked my brain like never before, and I feel a lot of the ideas it prompted in my mind still serve me today.

SETTLING THE SCRIPT AND DESIGNING LUCIA

Mr. Iwadare wrote about the company retreat, but there was also a plotting retreat that Mr. Shigema, Takashi (Hino), Mr. (Toshio) Akashi, and myself went on ahead and did before the retreat for the entirety of Game Arts. (In exchange, I didn't go on the Game Arts company retreat.)

Except for a few hours of sleep every day, the entire retreat was spent in plotting meetings; I was totally exhausted! I remember a hot spring employee warning Mr. Hino that they were going to charge for the electricity our PCs were using! I think the majority of the main story was basically decided at that point.

The idea that Lucia came from the Blue Star was superb, and discussion rapidly spun off from that point. At the time, though, some believed that her coming from the Blue Star should be a mystery, something revealed along the way. I personally was opposed to that and believed that Lucia's identity should be revealed early.

It's something that would be suspected along the way anyhow, and I felt that keeping it a secret would complicate the character depiction. I thought that making it clear who Lucia was right away made it so that your attention wasn't held or distracted by some sort of contrivance—that you were instead watching what she did and how she thought.

This way, the character of Lucia would inevitably grow darker, given her heavy mission, but I faced the same issue in Giant Robo, which I did before Lunar, and I was therefore able to put those experiences to use here.

It was established from the very beginning, by the will of the director, that the heroine of Giant Robo, Ginrei, would die. Perhaps because of that, things ended up getting serious on the drawing side as well, and she ended up completely devoid of a typical heroine's charm.

So I decided to be proactive in drawing Lucia in a cheerful manner, to put in some comical scenes, and this made that Lucia come to life in my mind. I was impressed by how Lucia's character and character transformation were reflected not just in the script but in Lucia's AI in battle.

The character design overall had more enthusiasm put into it overall than in 1. It's not that I cut corners before, but I feel that with 2, I wracked my brain a bit more.

Generally, at first, I have one image that serves as the trigger for everything, and my concept expands from there. For Lunar 2, I think it was "a beautiful girl in men's clothing." Mr. Shigema and I both love Princess Knight.

CASTING THAT SEIYUU—A DREAM COME TRUE!

I wanted her uniform to be like that of Maetel from Galaxy Express 999, with both her outfit and hat black, but I avoided this and put her in red.

By the way, for the remake, I was able to cast my dream actress, Masako Ikeda, in the role of older Luna, and I was just over the moon. I couldn't help it; I was just beside myself, reverting to a total fan: "It's Maetel! It's Audrey Hepburn!"

ABOUT THE CHARACTER DESIGN

With Lucia's shawl and culottes—her basic costume on the world of Lunar—I wanted to create a contrast with her uniform and emphasize her as a normal girl as much as possible; I feel maybe like going from an outfit that covers up everything to uncovering her slender arms and legs suits a character that you've somehow grown to want to protect! But as for me drawing it—well, at the time, I was very bad at that Lucia.

This is a digression, but in a certain idol game, there's a character named *sa. She's renowned for having a small bust.

I wondered for the longest time why she had Lucia-like decorations on her stage costume, and it took a rather long time for me to realize it.

Don't tell anyone I said "kuso!" when I figured it out.

Personally, the characters I like are Lemina, Leo, Mauri, and fake Althena, I guess?

The design lines of those beast characters are different from those of Jessica from the previous game, so as I was drawing them, I really thought they'd wouldn't work. I thought they somehow came out better anyhow; maybe I'd lost my resistance to beast characters since the previous game. (laughs)

A CUTSCENE THAT TURNED HEADS

At first, I asked Shunji Suzuki to handle the anime cutscenes, like with the previous game, but for various reasons, I decided that I would do them. We had the same hardware limitations as with the previous title, but I'm a person who will make unreasonable demands and push everything to the limit, so I drew that scene where Zophar rips the moon apart with the mindset where if it didn't work, I'd make it work, and I was able to get it looking better than I imagined—I was impressed.

That was because of the extravagant sakuga that needed so many douga in-between frames, even by the standards of a full-fledged anime; I don't think many people were doing that in video game pixel art. I think the key to its success lay in the black background and the oblong presentation that didn't take up the entire screen. However, despite this, there was a need for a load in the middle of the cutscene, and the art would freeze, so I thought, if it's going to be that way, I'll just use flicker to have things stop after the hands clench. It looks very natural, I think. (I understand the point where there's a flash of black is where it switches to the loaded data.)

By the way, this isn't present in the remake; it's replaced by a depiction of Lucia receiving a premonition of Zophar's actual revival. It's a divergence in concept from the Mega-CD version; I wanted to take it in as realistic a direction as possible, so I decided that the abstract representation wouldn't fit.

It's a phantom cutscene that can be seen only on the Mega-CD!

In that vein, I'd like, as promised, to talk about the "Lucia on the ship" cutscene.
That's the scene where Lucia is on board the Destiny, headed to Pentagulia, singing to herself with a sea bird on her hand.

This scene is in the Mega-CD version, but not in the subsequent remake (for the Sega Saturn). We're often asked why it was taken out—even by staff members who weren't involved with the remake. The scene was actually planned to be in the remake as well. It was just in a different location: Taben's Peak, where Nall is.

In the scene, Lucia was supposed to sing an entire song—like Luna in Silver Star Story. I think it would have added some structural balance and symbolized Lucia becoming more human.

It was decided that the Destiny scene would have been too early for Lucia to sing about her changing emotions, so it was changed from the ship to Taben's Peak. For the visuals, I imagined her singing surrounded by nature, against the backdrop of like a lake or a beautiful waterfall.

We got to the point where we had music for the song and handed in a rough draft of the lyrics, but it was shaping up to be a rather sizable scene, with 3D circular pans and a staggering number of birds flying away. The Saturn version was already strapped*, so we unfortunately had to shelve the scene. We were planning to put it in the PlayStation version, but that idea ultimately fizzled out as well.

It wasn't like we couldn't do it with overworld character animations, but it was originally going to be a scene equivalent to [one in] Silver Star Story, so there was no point in doing it if it was going to end up like that. So we ultimately cut it—that's the bottom line. I wanted to explain this if I got a chance somewhere, so I've used this space to do so. I'm truly sorry we weren't able to make the scene a reality.

—Thank you for regaling us with all those stories. It seems there are more scenes we'll have to check out when we play Lunar 2 on the Mega Drive Mini 2. Do you have any final words for those who are going to play Lunar 2?

Kubooka: I was really thrilled at the response to the game from fans; it was so heartening. It's just too bad that the game was released at the end of the (Mega Drive/Mega-CD) hardware cycle.

Such a long time has passed since then; I wonder if the game's universal appeal still comes through. So if the Destiny does something ridiculous like get stuck on a rock, just remember—that, too, is just like it was in the old days! (If this was fixed, sorry.)

I'd be thrilled to hear any new reactions.

LUNAR: ETERNAL BLUE LINER NOTES: SCRIPT SUPERVISOR KEI SHIGEMA LOOKS BACK

Now, I believe many are playing the game on the Mega Drive Mini 2, but I'd like to take a bit to remember Lunar: Eternal Blue.

We will be getting into fairly complete spoilers. If you're playing the game for the first time, please wait until you've finished playing the game before starting the article. Thank you for reading.

A PROPOSAL FROM MR. MIYAJI FOR A SEQUEL; A HOT SPRING RETREAT

I received a direct request from Yoichi Miyaji, then president of Game Arts: I'd like you to make a sequel to Lunar at Game Arts. It was decided that I would be on the project with Takeshi Hino, who was asked to create the script for the previous game.

First, it was decided that we'd all have a hot spring retreat together, and we headed to Shiriyaki Onsen in Gunma Prefecture. I think it was before the rainy season in '92, about?

Incidentally, the custom of everyone going on a hot spring retreat together at the start of a project was originally part of the corporate culture in the anime industry; I brought it with me from Gainax to Game Arts.

Also, to make another useless aside, in the days before widespread Internet, there was a BBS called "Sabou Tekunika" [Teahouse Technica] run by the author Haruka Takachiho; this was the favorite hot spring of the members of that BBS. The hot water there is pretty wild; the hot spring normally wells up from the bottom of a river that's usually running there, and depending on the temperature and current, it can get pretty cold and make you not even want to go in.

I chose the place because it's surrounded by nothing but mountains, so I thought: no place to fool around, so we can concentrate on planning.

That's what I thought at the time...

The participants included not only Pres. Miyaji but everyone on game design, programming, images & video, and production & direction. Noriyuki Iwadare, on music, also attended.

It was incredibly wonderful to have the musician on board at the project's earliest stages, and the success encouraged me to request at every company, for every work, that the musician participate from the very start of the project. (These requests usually aren't granted...)

Toshiyuki Kubooka, whom I asked to handle character design on the previous game, did not attend. I recall this was because Pres. Miyaji was still undecided on whether to ask him to this time. Given how things ended up, it really was a waste! Ultimately, it was decided that we'd hold an intensive boot camp later with the creative staff.

On the day of the retreat, I was in a Roadster and had the urge to drive, so I picked up Mr. Hino in Nerima and headed for Shiriyaki Onsen. After about three hours in the car, we had a very basic initial draft down for Eternal Blue.

In the previous game, Lunar: The Silver Star, the heroine was a childhood friend of the hero.
I'm all, "childhood friends! yeah! am I right!?", but Mr. Hino was insistent: "A girl you don't know is more mysterious than one you do! Mysterious girls are more moe. (Note: At the time, we didn't have the concept of moe. Historical accuracy is important.) A girl of mystery would tug at your heartstrings more!!!!"

Personally, I wholeheartedly thought that "aren't girls all mysterious and enigmatic, whether you know them from childhood or don't know them at all?". But, well, I was overwhelmed, and it was decided that our heroine would be a girl of mystery.

Now, I then got to thinking:

What's the biggest mystery in the world of Lunar? That would probably be the Blue Star, which we didn't touch at all in the previous game.
There are various schools of thought when it comes to how to craft a story, and I'm of the school that your backstory shouldn't be too detailed. Daring to leave lots of blanks means that things become more expansive and deeper as you write. In the previous game, the biggest blank was the Blue Star. I mentioned this in the previous essay, but in my mind, Lunar is a trilogy. The Four Heroes era was Part One, and Lunar: TSS* (The Silver Star) was Part Two. Therefore, the heroine who symbolized the mysteries left over from the previous game would be saved in this installment, Part Three. I thought it would be beautiful if we had a plot structure that tied a bow on the story of this massive world in such a manner.

Thus it was decided that the heroine of Eternal Blue would be a mysterious girl who came from the Blue Star. This girl from the Blue Star would hold the secret to its revival.

And so, in saving this girl, the hero (the player) would save Lunar and the Blue Star in the process.

To Mr. Hino and I, it felt like we really pulled something off: Whoa, it feels just like we won something! We were riding high during the retreat.

Incidentally (there are a lot of "incidentally"s this time around), the Blue Star was initially written in kanji not as 青き星, but as 蒼き星. However, given the display capabilities of consoles at the time and the image quality of CRTs, 蒼 wouldn't display well and wasn't legible, so we went ended up with this spelling.

Everyone was on board with the basic storyline—"Eternal Blue's heroine is a mystery girl who came from the Blue Star! The hero is on an adventure to save her—and the world!"—as soon as the retreat began.

We had numerous discussions—about the schedule, the structure of the production, the direction for which we should aim as a Game Arts RPG, etc. etc.—but after dinner, everyone would filter off to mah jongg tournaments relatively quickly; only those on the creative side of the production would continue holding meetings about business afterward. This all would drag on and on. I went to all the trouble to find this hot spring in the middle of nowhere, and it didn't mean much in the end...

Well, I guess I'm glad I got to see Gyuwanburaa Jikochuushinha-style mah jongg in real life. Pres. Miyaji plays downright dirty on the mah jongg board!...

Late one night, I went with Mr. Iwadare, who handled the music, to the hot spring in the river. The water level had risen, and alas, we couldn't go in the river, but we suddenly looked up between the clouds and happened to glimpse the full moon peeking out, and Mr. Iwadare said in a low voice: "ah—I have a melody for the main theme." It was like I had witnessed some sort of divine visitation.

I had a talk with Mr. Iwadare—let's make this game orchestral-like! Having the main melody appear in many different forms in many different scenes, played symbolically, was Mr. Iwadare's idea. The melody just seemed to shimmer, with the timing of those notes; it was deeply moving!

After the retreat, it was decided—in a contrast with what happened in the previous production, Lunar: The Silver Star—that for Eternal Blue, Mr. Kubooka would move from character design to storyboarding and supervising & directing the anime cutscenes. A new retreat was set for the creative staff: me, Mr. Kubooka, Mr. Hino, Toshio Akashi of [video game developer] Ikusabune, Mr. Shimada, from Game Arts, and others. This was in July of '92.

I'm sure I have a memory of it taking place at the Ikaho Hot Spring... We were there for three days and two nights, but, um, well...it was awful, and except for the meals and the bath, it was just brainstorm, brainstorm, brainstorm all the time. There wasn't any mah jongg.
We all were using our laptops all the time, so I understand the inn's owner was saying, "We're going to bill you for the electricity!" Well, it was probably a joke, but still.

It was an extremely intense retreat, where Mr. Kubooka, Mr. Hino, and me discussed how things should be depicted from an artistic perspective, among other matters. A selection of extracts from our notes from then is presented below.

INITIAL DISCUSSIONS

Creating a Classic RPG

• No "cult classic" material with unnecessary flourishes or departures from the tried & true; we of course want a story that plays on classic emotions

About the story

• Lunar 2: Make it Future Boy Conan. A standoff between two moons (clear good and evil?)
• The hero takes a more middle position
• The hero needs a defined background
• The heroine is a girl from Earth
• Widespread changes are needed for the Lunar 1 map
  (craters from enemy attacks or something?)

ABOUT THE STORY

Lacille, the girl who came from Earth

• What about the reason for why Lacille has to be on Earth? For example, there's a time limit for how long she can be on Lunar or something, she'll die if she doesn't go back?
• The girl can teleport; she even uses it to go to the Black Star, too. However, if she can use it any time she wants, as many times as she wants, it'll lessen the impact of the ending, so make it so that in some way or another, she can't go to the moon anymore?
• Anyhow: The girl has to go back!
• In the last scene, there's a line that makes the girl cry (for example: "I'll carry memories of my time with you back to Earth with me in my heart" or something)
• Lacille has the power to destroy the Black Star through joining forces with Althena, but if the Dark Lord Gaius seizes Lacille, his power can exceed that of Althena?
• Lacille is the administrator between the moon and the Earth? (the intermediary)

The goddess Althena and the girl Lacille

• Lacille can't use that much of the power she has on Earth on the moon. In other words, in other to defeat the Black Star, she ends up needing Althena's cooperation.
• Althena is Lacille's older sister?
• Althena is the representative of the moon. Lacille is the representative of the Earth?

The Dark Lord Gaius and the relationship between the Earth and the moon

• On some basic level, they're all the same thing? (the Earth, Lunar, the Black Star) But the spirit of what they individually symbolize is different (for example, the Black Star is survival at any cost, Lunar is like harmony with nature)

What is the concept for the Dark Lord Gaius?

• A symbol of evil. There's an organization that worships this evil god. It has various officers, and also a demon shogun birthed by Gaius himself?

The heroine was given the name of "Lacille." It went Lacille (Raashiru) -> Lucia (Rushiia) - > Lucia (Ruushia).

And so, intense brainstorming over two days produced the outline below, a partial excerpt from a memo from Mr. Hino.

THE BROAD OUTLINE FROM THE RETREAT

• This time, the backdrop for the world is "a game of gods and mortals." Or: "a game of three: a benevolent god, a malevolent god, and a human."
• The heroine Lacille (provisional name) is by nature an extremely girly girl. She's a passionate girl who loves people with her whole heart. However, due to the mission (destiny) she shoulders or maybe her environment, she was unaware of these emotions within her. Now, as she comes to Lunar and fulfills her mission, she begins to develop these emotions for the first time. Lacille's heart being set in motion will be the focus of Lunar 2.
• When Lacille was on Earth, she knew nothing of the concept of loneliness. So when she first appears on the world of Lunar, she does not have a human's (a girl's) emotions at all. However, on the moon, through serving as mediator over the course of this game, she ends up learning what it is like not to be alone. In other words, part of Lacille's innate human emotions (that she's extremely girly) indeed begin to blossom. However, at the end of the story, Lacille must by her own accord return to her original state of loneliness (being on Earth). And Hiro and Lacille's true relationship was just about to begin... Ohh, poor girl!!
• The girl has to return to the Earth because she can't live on Lunar currently. However, beyond that, because of the powers the girl has as overseer, if the girl does not return, the world of Lunar itself will be destroyed. Also, the girl's powers are symbolized by a pendant or something.
• What are Lacille's powers as Arbitrator? They're not so absolute that make the game no contest, but they should be sufficiently significant (the pendant? mind-reading?). The game hinges on the actions of Lacille, who corrects the bugs in the system.
• The Dark Lord wants Lacille not to meet with the Goddess Althena but instead to join his side. It's involved with the power Lacille has.
• Also, in order to prove her status as mediator, after meeting the Goddess Althena, Lacille ends up going with the Black Knight to the evil god's side. At this time, by clinging to the Black Knight or something, it becomes clear that Lacille is being taken by her own will. Lacille displays emotion when dithering between whether or not to go back. (When she goes with the Black Knight: No! I don't want to be separated from Hiro! Even if I come back, if Hiro doubts me, I'll be sad. I want to cry. But if Hiro has faith in me, I'll be happy! At these times, she's on the surface acting as the Arbitrator, so she should evince a transcendent attitude. However, inside her heart, she's conflicted, but at these times, she still maintains her stance as the Arbitrator. The instant her duties as the Arbitrator come to a close, she cries and laughs. Lacille's emotions break through her mask as Arbitrator only at the very end, when Lacille returns to Earth.

THE CONCEPT OF LUCIA

Our brainstorming was so intense it could be compared to a child's developmental fever. The concepts surrounding Lucia (Lacille) and her role consequently feel half-formed already, don't they?
But this was really only on the surface; until the subsequent scriptwriting, it was, actually, really terrible...

By the way, about Lucia: from a fairly early time period, Mr. Kubooka was referring to her with the phrase "cool & beauty." To this day, he's all about the tsunderes! (Chihaya?)

We're really dating ourselves.

In my mind, the associations with My Fair Lady and Roman Holiday, as well as Cathy from Animal Treasure Island and Hilda from Horus, Prince of the Sun, were strong.

Actually, the main script for this game was subsequently written primarily by Mr. Hino. It wasn't that I didn't want to do it; it was that Mr. Hino came up with so many good ideas at the retreat, and so I thought that having him write the script would yield some interesting stuff that I wouldn't come up with on my own.

The creative team continued to brainstorm after the retreat, and as they exchanged ideas, they pulled the framework of the story together, with Mr. Hino developing the outline into a full-fledged plot.
It was a pretty rocky journey. I've been singing Mr. Hino's praises here, but the responsibility for the issues we encountered absolutely did not fall at his feet alone; I wasn't able to put forward clear concepts for what I wanted, and this game was on a completely different scale from the previous one.

The key phrase for this sequel was to make it like what they call in animation the "big-screen version." In order to sustain that big-screen quality, we needed a story strong enough to support that length. The setting and characters also demanded a high degree of precision and understanding. We also had to be thinking continually of how game design, player tasks, and player experience all worked together for a consistent experience.
"We've still got that to do"—revise, revise, forever revising...it got so that at times, we no longer had a clue as to what was fun or interesting.

Nevertheless, schedules have a habit of bearing down on you. Also, as part of Game Arts, we had been trying to create a grand-scale RPG to surpass TSS by trial and error. You can't retain development spaces forever, but we tried our best to use that trial & error period to make the game coherent as an artistic work.

Looking at the time stamps, at the start of November ('92), Mr. Hino had finished a plot that took the story continuously from the start of the adventure to the last scene. It was really staggering. I can only offer my thanks.

I tried reading it again close to 30 years later, and I think it's well-formed. However—and my sincere apologies to Mr. Hino—it didn't feel like Lunar...
I didn't understand why at the time, but thinking now, when writing TSS, as I noted in the previous essay, we didn't have a lot of time, so I just created it out of raw sentiment, without any frills or flourishes from my inner self or my work—and that's the reason, I feel.
It's something I can't put into words or any sort of code—and something that comes from a place no one else can identify, you know?!
Ahhh...I feel a big weight off my shoulders in writing that. It may be too late now, but I feel like I should treat Mr. Hino to a meal...

Ultimately, due to that utterly outrageous reason of it not being very Lunar-like, I took over the plot.
I apologize, but I wrote without confining myself to Mr. Hino's plot, and I finished the following year, in January '93. The background and setting were completely different from the finished script. I think the TSS characters showing up give it a sense of continuity and Lunar-ness. Please read these excerpts I've selected of the opening and the final scene.

A BRAND-NEW PLOT FROM MR. SHIGEMA

Prologue:
It has been about 10 years since the Ghaleon incident (the specific amount of time is not stated). The world of Lunar enjoys peace and prosperity. The magic engine discovered in the wreckage of the Grindery is found to control magic power through the power of steam, a process that enabled the massive Grindery to move.
The magic engine is readily accepted by the people of Lunar, for whom magic is part of everyday life. Supplemented by the magic power of the earth, the air, and the magicians of Vane, the people set the magic engine in motion, and a new culture arises. Indeed, it is the dawn of the Industrial Revolution.
However, in their attempts to advance their civilization, the people encounter an unimaginable foe.

A massive magic war with an army of unidentified magic beasts is underway—in which Alex and his companions from Lunar 1 are all individually fighting.
Their enemies: the army of magic beasts, whose might is overwhelming...and a legion (a cult) of humans who worship these creatures.
In truth, these beasts were once insignificant monsters; by coming in contact with the source of magic, Genesis (a dragon?), and absorbing its power, they have grown massive—metamorphosing into monsters of enormous destructive power. The monsters have given birth to powerful magic beasts.
Those with malice and ambition in their hearts have begun to use these monsters for their own ends. Humans worship these monsters as new gods, attempting to supplant Althena as the deity of creation.
The army of magic beasts attacks humanity with overwhelming power. The magic war physically ravages the surface of the earth, and the world undergoes a great transformation.
To resist, humanity turns to the technology Ghaleon once used (the magic engine).
Several massive Grinderies are constructed, as well as flying battleships and weapons of mass destruction.
This is a perversion of the very nature of magic, though the people do not realize this.
However, some have awakened in part to this danger:
the heroes who once fought against Ghaleon. Alex, Kyle, and the rest.
They tell the people that combining magic with machines results in unrestrained power running amok—and will end only in destruction, just as the enemy beasts have wrought. But their words are all but ignored.

Alex and his comrades resolve to fight the beast armies unaided, as an independent strike force, but it is a fruitless battle.
And so the war, characterized by reckless use of magic on both sides, depletes the moon's magic. On the dark side of the moon, the old, dead earth and its barren craters are beginning to emerge.

As this war continues to rage on Lunar, in the ruins of the Earth, a lone girl, who has been asleep in amber, awakens. Beside her own amber lies another, vacant. (This is Althena's.)
Newly awake, the girl, Lucia, looks up into the night sky. There, the moon looms large.
As she watches, the full moon transforms in a blink of an eye into green earth. Lucia's body flashes—and she flies up into the sky.
And so, the game begins.

The Beginning of the Adventure
After narration by the hero and a cutscene, the game starts.
"I'm Hiro. I live here in Larpa—a boring little village that couldn't be further in the sticks. Everyone knows my face around here! No one's got more guts than I do—and no one can beat me in a fight.
I hear way off near Meribia, there's a war going on—with these monsters from some kinda cult. Not like I'll get a chance to try my strength against them, though—not stuck in a village here on the Frontier.
Hey, but something that's been on my mind recently... My dad's got some strangers staying at his inn for the first time in forever. They came all the way from Meribia!
They won't tell us what they're up to—top secret, so they say. They don't fool me, though. I know what they're after: the treasure in the Demon's Spire. Don't know what that's got to do with their little shootout—but this is my chance.
I'm not like my dad. I want to get out of this village—make a name for myself!
It's just a rumor, but I heard that Alex, that guy who became a Dragonmaster in the war with Ghaleon? He couldn't even use magic at the start, right?
But he tried his best to save the world—and he became a Dragonmaster even better than Dyne ever was!
So maybe there's hope for me... Yeah! If he can do it...so can I!
...Sure! I'll become a Dragonmaster! Piece of cake! Nothing to it!
Then maybe the people in this village will start giving me a little of the respect I deserve.
C'mon, Mink! Let's shake things up around here!"

Final Scene
Fireworks launch from a castle courtyard. A lavish banquet is held.
Everyone erupts in gales of buoyant laughter. There's dancing—couples forming. No one will let Hiro out of their sight. But...what he really wants is to speak to Lucia.
Hiro looks for Lucia—but she is nowhere to be found. Eventually, he finds her alone, on an isolated terrace, secreted away from the crowd—and about to leave.
Hiro finally manages to slip away and chases after Lucia.
We see Lucia from the back lingering a bit, sad, alone. The Blue Star looms large above, shining in the sky. It seems positively to engulf the girl.
Hiro is about to call to her when Lucia turns around. Her eyes are full of sorrow...but her mind is resolute.
"This is farewell, Hiro."
I must return to the Blue Star, Lucia says. One day, I imagine, it will through Lunar's power become a planet full of life, just as your world. It is my destiny to watch over the Blue Star until that happens. ...No. Not my destiny. I love the Earth—just as you love this world of Lunar.
Farewell, my beloved Lunar. Farewell, my beloved Hiro. I'll never forget you. Ever. No matter how far apart we are...or how much time passes...
You're going back all alone?! Hiro tries to approach Lucia, but Lucia retreats, trembling.
The light of the Blue Star envelops Lucia. Wreathed in soft earthglow, she begins to float up into the sky.
No, Lucia! Don't!
Hiro desperately tries to follow Lucia, but an unknown power holds him back.
Lucia's heart aches as she watches.
Hiro reaches out toward Lucia. Instinctively, Lucia reaches out with her own hand, attempting to take his. However, just before their fingers touch, Lucia retracts her hand.
Lucia's eyes glisten with tears.
"Farewell to everyone I love. To my...Hiro..."
Take me with you!
Hiro's cry rocks Lucia to her core.
I have to go with you, Lucia. To your homeworld. To the Blue Earth. Let's watch over it together! A blue, beautiful world full of life!
"Oh, Hiro..."
I'll find you, Lucia! Someday! No matter what it takes! I promise!!
Hiro cries as Lucia fades away. Hiro's words reverberating in her heart, Lucia disappears into the skies above.

For a while, Hiro stands dumbstruck. At last, he tears his eyes from the terrace to the party below, where guests in opulent dress are all astir.
Even Mink is involved in a friendly quarrel with Nall. They seem quite close.
Hiro smiles, then turns on his heel. His feet lead him away from the party.
"Leaving?"
Alex's voice calls to Hiro as he emerges from the shadow of a nearby pillar.
"Yes."
"I've heard there's a way to get to the Blue Star. But I've also heard that unimaginable trials await anyone who makes the attempt! They say no one's succeeded in generations of Dragonmasters..." So says Laike—no...Dyne, as he emerges.
"It doesn't matter. I have to go. She's waiting for me there. All alone..."
"I see..."
Alex and Hiro clasp hands.
"I know you can do it. I know you're not one to be deterred by a little headwind..."　Dyne gives him a firm handshake as well.
"So long, Hiro."
Turning his back on the two men, Hiro leaves the royal palace. He does not look back.
Striding resolutely, his eyes reflect only the Blue Star glittering high in the far-off heavens above...

Roll credits.

Silence.
The Blue Star. The wind howls.
We hear the sound of footsteps trudging with determination across the earth. And then...we see a figure emerge.
A manly youth. He is disheveled, but he cuts a commanding figure.
He continues his triumphant stride. His long hair flutters gently.
The young man enters some ruins—the location from the opening scene.
Within a capsule-like enclosure, someone sleeps. A girl. The boy slowly approaches her.
The capsule painstakingly opens. And the boy's face beams.
It is Hiro, grown into full manhood. He smiles.
"Lucia."
"...Hiro!"

TRUE ENDING

End Credits

Fin.

KEI SHIGEMA TALKS ABOUT LUNAR 0

—Did it become possible to go back and forth between Lunar and the Blue Star?

Shigema: With Hiro and Lucia, they came to Lunar for fun pretty casually in the drama CDs, so I guess they figured it out pretty quickly.

—Do you think you'll be able to be present the tale of the Four Heroes era (the so-called Lunar 0) touched upon in the PSP version of Silver Star in a game or other media?

Shigema: Lunar 0 has become a story of a bit different era!
As for the tale of the Four Heroes: the emotions and conflicts and fated bonds involved are released and resolved in Alex's story, so I don't think there's any need to depict it independently.
However, I'd like to write a little bit about Laike's story after the end of the game.

—What happened to Hiro and Lucia afterward?

Shigema: Welllll, I don't know—I suppose they went on a variety of adventures together?
Lucia may have awakened the Blue Star, but I don't imagine it would have revived immediately just like that. I wouldn't be surprised if an exhausted Hiro & Lucia had two or three more adventures on the level of Eternal Blue! Making new comrades from people sleeping on the Blue Star—maybe everyone on Lunar coming to help, of course. I also kind of doubt whether that would've really been the last we saw of Ghaleon-sama.
And perhaps at the end of Hiro and Lucia's adventures, the frozen earth would have changed to green...

LUNAR 3'S BEEN MADE?

—Be honest: is there even a 0.1% chance of Lunar 3 in the future? I'm on pins and needles!

Shigema: I think the statute of limitations is up, so... (Actually, about 21 lines of grown-up stuff was deleted here...)
...So several years after the above was suspended, there were talks about whether we could now create a Lunar 0 about the details of how humanity moved to Lunar, and for consideration, we created a simple plot and characters. Mr. Kubooka even drew up rough sketches of the main characters.
These were just for consideration; they didn't go to production.
That means that, as for as the 0.1% chance goes: I don't think it's zero.
However: an extraordinary amount of manpower and funding is necessary to create an RPG from scratch in this day and age, and when I think of getting to the point of getting that all together, I think it would be enormously difficult.
I myself still want to hold out hope, so let's give Game Arts our support!

THE SPIRITUAL SUCCESSOR TO LUNAR

Incidentally, while it's not a sequel to Lunar, Tales of Destiny 2 (TOD2) is its spiritual successor—the emotional heir.

I'd wanted overseas Lunar fans to play it, too, but, alas, there was no overseas release!
Abroad, Tales of Eternia was released as "Tales of Destiny 2".

The role of TOD2's lengthy animated cutscenes; the expressions; the characters and story construction; the thematic material; the position of the heroine; the music production; and on and on—I think they're all connected fairly directly to Lunar. The element of romance between the characters etc. too is that way.

Particularly thematically, Lunar is, as an action-adventure tale, thoroughly about how the hero fights to save the girl he loves and saves the world in the process. With TOD2, we tried to go further and depict the decisions and growth of a hero forced to choose between the girl and the world.

Speaking of other games, typical Lunar elements remain strongly in Game Arts' Grandia II - particularly all with the songs and songstresses, I think. It's a regret of mine that right up to the very end, I was never able to be involved with main script duties.

Also, I was involved in script production only—and I'm scared even to write something like this for fear of making the main scriptwriter, Jun Kumagai, angry—but even so, I personally think that, in some way, Tales of Crestoria is its heir emotionally and in its intentions.

Crestoria was a smartphone game, and service ended for it, but it'll be restarted on December 4, 2022 as a manga in Magazine Pocket, so please check it out. I think it's a story that should be told in this day and age.

—Luna and Lucia: both of their names begin with "Lu." Do you have some sort of obsession with that? Does it come from the Latin "Lucia"?

Shigema: Well, it is Lunar, so I thought a "Lu" connection might be nice. And, yes: like the question says, I am aware of the Latin "Lucia" ("light").

—If you were given an opportunity to get the team back together today, would you want to revive the Lunar series, or would you want to try to create something different?

Shigema: I'd like for each team member to tag-team with a young person—and then to make a next-generation Lunar with that team! I've lost almost all of my practical know-how of how to make a grand-scale RPG, so I'd like to set up that sort of succession myself.

—In Lunar 1, Althena's Sword was bestowed upon the Dragonmaster by the goddess Althena; did Althena make the other dragon equipment (the Blue Dragon Helmet, Red Dragon Shield, Black Dragon Armor), or did each dragon make it?

Shigema: I think there was an idea in planning that each dragon made it. So, the designs also change with each generation of dragon. In a very early plot for Eternal Blue, there was an idea along the lines that the dragon equipment would be revived as the captured dragons were freed. But Eternal Blue wasn't the story of a Dragonmaster, so the idea was cut.

—When did Nall start looking after children on Taben's Peak? Were there any plans to have the children raised in Taben's Peak show gratitude to Nall or something after they leave the nest?

Shigema: I envisioned human Nall with the idea of depicting the tragedy of those races who lead long lives. After Alex and Luna lived out their lives, I think Nall probably wandered the world alone for a while. There was probably also a time when he was wild, violent, and out of control. During this, he happened across a baby all alone, and he resolved to carry on Alex and Luna's wishes by living for future generations and entrusting their hopes for the future to them.
I thought up of many episodes with the children of Taben's Peak; human Ruby was also scheduled to appear.
A great many of these episodes were planned to be restored in the remake of Eternal Blue, as well as a scene where Lucia remembers a song and sings about her own emotions. As Mr. Kubooka said in his essay, we unfortunately had to cut this.

—Did you have a scriptwriting teacher, Mr. Shigema?

Shigema: Not directly. As I wrote in the previous essay, I come from a small backwater city, so there wasn't anyone like that near me. I just read a lone introductory book; the rest, I had to learn on my own.
I did, however, have a spiritual teacher: Hiroyuki Yamaga, director of Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise. I never spoke to the man himself even once, but I personally consider him as my mentor.
In my Gainax (General Products) days, I had the opportunity to glimpse Mr. Yamaga on the job in scriptwriting.
I had previously read explanations as to how scripts were structure, but the idea didn't really connect with me.
It was like: structure is everything to a script? Really?
That day, I saw Mr. Yamada, who was to write the script for the Gainax-produced OVA Naki no Ryuu, suddenly take copies of the original comics and begin to disassemble them page by page.
I was shocked: what is he doing? As I watched out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mr. Yamaga take the scattered pages, exclude from them the unnecessary episodes, then assemble the remaining pages in chronological order as they happened in the story.
He then stapled them together and handed them over to production management with a simple "here's the script."
I was astonished...!
As I believe those who have read the Naki no Ryuu manga will know, the work is renowned for its discontinuous storytelling—for how it jumps around in time. Putting the story in chronological order reworked it into a structure that could stand as a video production.
Really! So that's it! So scripts really are structure... They're built atop the foundation that structure provides...!
It was like: Eureka! Or, rather: Water!

This realization was really crucial for me; even now, I occasionally think that without that moment, I don't know if I would have subsequently continued working as a scriptwriter.
Later, I was fortunate enough to gain an opportunity to view Mr. Yamaga's scripts from first draft to final copy for Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, GunBuster, and UFO 1988, a manga serialized in Cyber Comix. Well, it was less that I studied them and more that I was bowled over by their rock-solid construction.
Incidentally, for those who would like to study script structure in real time, I think Ichiro Okouchi's scripts for Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury make an excellent reference. The structure of each episode is extremely strong, and with the characters in motion on top of it all—it's rock-solid.

EXPLAINING EACH CHARACTER

—What was your initial concept for each character?

Shigema: Hiro, I envisioned as an explorer, an adventurer, a treasure hunter. He was complete from the very start; there were almost no changes to Mr. Kubooka's initial rough draft.
Hiro's name came from "hero"; one of the writers, Mr. Hino, was using it as a placeholder. However, it ended up growing on me as I was writing the script, and when it came time to decide on an official name for him, I found I just couldn't change it!
Ruby was initially named "Mink." Names were generally chosen by soliciting suggestions. In planning, she was a girl calling herself a young Red Dragon—the opposite pattern from Nall from the first game. During battle, Nall would heal, so she would participate by attacking. When she regained the power of the Red Dragon, her attack power would double! DOUBLE! Mr. Kubooka even came up with a design for Ruby in human form, and I so wanted to put her in, but she never appeared...
As for Lucia, the word "tsundere" wasn't in use at the time, so Mr. Kubooka would use the term "cool & beauty" [sic]. Personally, I imagined her as Hilda from The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun or Kathy from Animal Treasure Island.
A girl of mystery, her initial outfit was reminiscent of a military uniform—something quite alien to the culture of the world of Lunar! As I wrote before, she was a beautiful girl in male dress—that made me happy! Mr. Kubooka drew some early rough sketches that emphasized the mystery of the mystery girl, with her hair in a Chinese queue. Naturally, I thought: yeah, that's a little too much mystery...
After she came to Lunar, she changed to local apparel; Mr. Kubooka pushed for culottes. I thought, wouldn't a skirt be better? but then I thought: culottes are better! and put them in the final script.
Mr. Kubooka already wrote about a certain game character in his essay, so I have to reluctantly leave that out.

Zophar's name comes from that of Zorya, the Slavic deity of twilight. In myth, Zorya is a goddess, but Zophar himself has an androgynous image. Initially, I envisioned him as paired with the goddess Althena, the goddess Lucia, in opposition—each never able to destroy the other, just to seal each other away. Only humans were able to intercede—but the goddesses had no faith in humanity. That sort of thing.
Iemasa Kayumi's voice was just too good; I was head over heels during the prescoring. Just ecstatic...

There's a tradition of young girls fulfilling the priestly healing role, so I created Ronfar with the idea of turning that paradigm on its head. If, though, I made him an old man, as would be expected for an inversion of the trope, that wouldn't benefit anyone, so he ended up a young man with an old-looking face. Making him just a priest wouldn't be interesting, so he was planned to be this drunken gambler—just a good-for-nothing guy. And then we went ahead and created this story of how he left the priesthood—like, how did he end up this way? The character was created backwards from his role in the group—a rarity for Lunar!

With Jean, her dancing girl appearance came first. She was designed to be an older dancing girl, because when a slightly older woman notices you and talks to you with that worldly, seen-it-all air of hers, it makes you happy! So happy, you know?! And I knew that Mas Oyama of Karate Master/Karate for Life fame once said something like "Martial artists shouldn't pick fights with dancers. They're in insanely good shape," so I thought, well, let's give that a try, and Jean the martial artist was born. There's a shot in the ending of Jean dancing happily; I think that's her true nature. I'm glad she was able to go back to her real self.

Lemina was at first intended to be a noble girl doing her best to rebuild her fallen family name—so how did she end up like she is...? But, um, well, I also feel that it all makes sense.
In the previous game, Vane fell out of the sky, which I imagine was pretty tough on the Magic Guild, so the image came to me of a girl who was desperately trying to get it up in the air again. She was doing her best to try to save up the money for reconstruction, but it's like she was so obsessed with the pennies that the dollars got away from her, and so she doesn't have much to show for her efforts—but she's still extremely proud to be part of a noble family, always obstinate, but at heart, she's a stand-up, forthright girl who's doing her best. You can't help but like that! I thought, and so I excitedly wrote her into the script. She has a goal and is raising money for it, but along the way, the fundraising becomes more important than the goal, and she ends up a money-grubber—that sort of character.
Her theme song, "Okane ga Ichiban!" ("Money's the Best!"), is also a masterpiece. The vocalist is listed as "Lemina Ausa," not Megumi Hayashibara—there must have been a contract issue...? We got an OK take the first time in recording.
In her ending shot, Mr. Kubooka drew Lemina with glasses, and I went out of my mind: A meganekko?! Why didn't I think of that?! I love meganekko Lemina! I want Mr. Kubooka to draw more of her.

Leo, he's a beastman, but his design lines are a little different from those of Jessica or Admiral Mel from the previous game. Jessica was a cat-type, so Leo's a dog-type. In the early stages, Mr. Kubooka also tried giving him a centaur-like form. Characterwise, he's like Inspector Zenigata from Lupin III. He was also considered as a rival to Hiro. I suppose he's the individual who's the most liberated by the events of the main story? I enjoyed writing the Mystere parts of the script. He's also important in the drama CDs and such as a comedic punching bag. Ms. Funato treated him as an actual dog in her manga...

That ended up being pretty long. Thank you for reading it all!
I beg those involved in the production of the games to forgive me and emphasize that this is all just my own personal perspective on events.

These games were made long ago, but we all truly put all our hearts and souls into them, together, as a team. They're very, very important games to me, and I love them a lot.

If, when you look up at the night sky and see the moon, you think: "hey, I had an adventure there!"—that'd make me just so happy.

Thank you for keeping the Lunar series eternally in your hearts. 　I'm truly grateful!